Method and means for flowing wells



Sept. 8, 1936. A. VILLERS METHOD AND MEANS FOR FLOWING WELLS Filed April 1'7, 1935 gwuc/wm ALEX VI'LLER'E Patented Sept. 8, 1936 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE METHOD AND MEANS FOR FLOWING WELLS 3 Claims.

The prior art includes tubes mounted in casing which, however, are not useful in the eduction of gas with the result that in the so-called gas wells, it is still customary to employ the 6 and casing within which a 5" casing is mounted and the fluids bailed from the latter in a manner well known in the art and a siphon system for the casing-head gas employed.

In the present invention where the oil is encountered above the gas sand, the valved tubing of the present invention will drop the oil permitting it to be swabbed or pumped from the tubing. Water and other fluids are in the same manner dropped from the casing-head gas allowing the dry gas to flow out from the tube of the well into a metered tank in a manner well known in the art. The device of the present invention further allows each gas sand pressure to flow separately.

It is further within the contemplation with the present invention to equip the gas educing .tubing with suitable valved inlets, capable of being positioned at critical locations throughout the extent of the casing, so as to permit the gas of each sand strata to be educed separately, the valved inlets of the tubing being arranged singly or in multiple depending upon the size of the well and correspondingly of the volume of gas and fluids to be handled.

Other objects of the invention will be apparent from the following description of the present preferred form of the invention taken in connection with the accompanying drawing, wherein:

Fig. 1 is a fragmentary side elevational view of a tube constructed in accordance with the present invention illustrating its application in a well casing.

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary vertical sectional view of the tubing taken through one of the valved inlets to show details of the latter.

Fig. 3 is a cross sectional view taken on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2 looking in the direction of the arrows showing to advantage a valve housing and manner of mounting a valve shield on the tubing.

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary vertical sectional view of the tubing showing a modified-form of valved inlet for the tubing.

Fig. 5 is a cross sectional view taken on the line H of Fig. 4 looking in the direction of the 5 arrows.

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary side elevational view of a tubing with a pair of valved inlets arranged perpendicularly with a shield mounted thereover and Fig. 7 is a detailed fragmentary sectional view of a modified form of a valved inlet.

In order to illustrate the application of my invention a casing 8 is illustrated which may be of conventional design and is adapted for the recep- 15 tion of tubing 8 constructed in accordance with the present invention. I have shown only relatively short sections of tubing in order to illustrate a preferred form of the invention. These sections are shown to be of circular contour, the diameter thereof being much smaller than the inner diameter of the casing 8 so as to leave an appreciable space between the outer periphery of the tubing and the inner periphery of the casing. The tubing preferably includes a packer III which may be of conventional design and is adapted to be manipulated, in a manner well known in the art, so as to be urged into intimate contact with the casing wall to thereby seal communication through the casing. Immediate- 1y below the packer ill in Fig. l, I have shown an opening in which one end of an elbow H is detachably mounted. The opposite end of said elbow is detachably engaged with a valve housing l2. The housing is provided in its outer end with a detachable perforated cap l3, the inner terminal of which is rounded to provide a valve seat for the spherical valve l4. Movement of the valve in the'housing I2 is limited by an abutment |5a which projects inwardly from the ln- 0 ner wall of the housing.

Preferably the elbow and housing I! are protected by a shield IS, the latter being slidably and detachably mounted in guides l6 which are carried by the tubing 8.

As shown to advantage in Fig. 6 the valved inlets may be duplicated where desired and found necessary and are capable of perpendicular arrangement as shown in the drawing. When so arranged a single shield I5 is employed to cover 0 both of the valve housings. I

Where the diameter of the casing is insufllcient to warrant the use of the valved inlets of the type shown in Fig. 2 of the drawing, a modifled form of inlet, such as shown in Figs. 4 and 55 the tubing.

The well casing 8 is preferably provided with a plurality oi vertically spaced apart openings 20,

2|, and 22 which open into gas pressure zones 20a, m, and 22a, respectively, and each packer i is arranged just above a' strata of gas sand, or pressure zone, and the valved inlets I! are arranged substantially opposite the openings in the casing I. Where the pressures of the gas in the different zones are equal, the gas may readily -;flow through the openings in the well casing and through the valved inlets is into the tubing 9. However, where the pressures are unequal in the different zones, the gas from the highest pressure zone will first flow into the tubing 9 through the valved inlet i associated with such zone, and as this high pressure gas enters the tubing 9, the valves associated with the other zones which are of a lower pressure will be forced onto their seats, thus preventing any of the higher pressure gas from passing out of the casing 8 into the lower pressure zones. Assuming as an example that the zones Ila, Ila, and 22a. have pressures of 150 pounds, 125 pounds and 100 pounds, respectively,

the pressure of the gas from the 150 1b. zone 'willopen the valves associated therewith, and the valves associated with the other zones "will 'be' automatically closed by the high pressure of the gas in the tubing 8. When the pressure in the 150 lb. zone drops to substantially 125 lbs., the valves associated with the 125 lb. zone will be opened by the pressure from that zone, and at this time the gas will be taken from the two zones when the pressures are substantially equal. This same procedure will obtain from zone to zone as the pressures are equalized, and when the pressures of all of the zones are equalized all of the valves will be opened and gas from all or the zones permitted to enter the tubing. It is, of course, understood that fluids are permitted to pass through the valved inlets into the tubing from which point they are swabbed or pumped out.

It is apparent that various changes may be made, especially in the details of construction, within the scope of claims herewith appended.

What is claimed is:

1. In a well casing having a plurality of vertically spaced apart openings communicating with spaced apart fluid pressure zones, 2. tubing in the casing relatively smaller than the interior diameter of the casing, a plurality of valve members carried by the tubing adjacent said openings in the casing, and a plurality of vertically spaced apart packers carried by the tubing and snugly engaging the casing to prevent intercommunication between the pressure zones within the casing.

2. The method of educing gas from a well casing provided with openings communicating with zones of different pressures, which consists of inserting a relatively small diameter tubing into the casing, cutting off communication within the casing between the difierent zones, and securing pressure operated valves on the tubing adjacent each zone.

3. A means for educing gas from different pressure zones, comprising a casing having openings therethrough substantially opposite each zone whereby to permit the gas from each zone to freely enter the casing, a relatively small diameter tubing disposed in the casing, inwardly opening pressure operated valves carried by the tubing adjacent each zone, and packers carried by the tubing and snugly engaging the casing to cut off communication between the different pressure zones.

ALEX VILLERS. 

